Dead People

Look at the picture. It is over 100 years ago. What do you see?

I see dead people. Everyone in the picture must be at least 20 years old, so they must all now be dead.

They all had aspirations of one form or another. They had dreams, desires and objectives for their lives.

Some were determined they were going to be rich, some were going to be famous, some were going to own property and assets.

Some in the picture were searching for true love, some had already found it.

Some in the picture were thieves, cheats, con men and fraudsters.

Some were kind, loving, giving and empathetic.

They were fathers, mothers, sons, daughters, brothers and sisters. Now they are all gone.

Some spent years, decades, working hard and saving all they could for their retirement, planning to have a wonderful time in those golden years, only to not live long enough to see that time, or spend any of the money they had worked so hard to save. Many were too busy working to smell the roses along the way.

Did all the people in the picture achieve their dreams? Of course the answer is no. Most of us don't. That’s not what life is about. You can't let your life be that all it is about.

We are seduced by teachers, movies, advertising, everywhere telling us we can achieve anything if we work hard enough, for long enough, but for most it’s just not going to happen. That’s what growing up is often about, the realisation you're not going to be a rock star and instead will have to get a regular job to live. Many of the 0.001% who do make it will agree that it is very much luck, and timing, being in the right place at the right time, as the other 99.999% of us look on.

Many have an unnatural egotistical desire to be immortalised, to achieve things that means they will be remembered forever. But is that even possible? Think back, how many individual people do you remember who lived 200 years ago? 400 years? 1,000 years ago? A handful at most. And then it’s just a name, no-one remembers the person. What about 10 years ago, excluding family members, or 20 years ago? Famous actors, musicians, celebrities are gone and so quickly forgotten. Fame, wealth and power are all pure ego, fleeting, and soon gone and forgotten.

The thing we can all achieve though, is Love. You don't need money, wealth or power to be a kind and loving person to other human beings. We can all be empathic, respectful and kind to others, to share what we have with others, to help them when they should stumble. It costs nothing, yet means so much. It is the most powerful thing of all and available to everyone. I believe to Love is all we are really here for.

Every time I see an old picture like this one, it reminds me how brief our time is here. How materialistic things are worth nothing in the end. The only things that matters is being truly and genuinely loving and kind to everyone. We don't have much time, so start today.